**Diary Entry 18th March**
The bastard threw me out on the street with two children, and a year later, he was on his knees, begging me for money.
“Hello, dragonfly,” came that sickeningly familiar voice through the receiver. “Miss me?”
Keira froze, a bottle of perfume in her hand. The air in the walk-in wardrobe, thick with sandalwood and the scent of success, suddenly turned heavy and sticky, like that night in the stairwell where she’d slept with the kids a year ago.
“What do you want, Greg?”
She forced her voice steady. Forced herself not to glance toward the sound of Maisie and Pollys laughter drifting in from the nursery.
“Straight to business, then? No ‘how are you?’ No ‘whats new?’ Were not strangers, Keira. Or have you forgotten we have two children together?”
His chuckle scraped against her nerves like rusted nails on glass. A year. A whole year without that smug tone, that unspoken claim he still had over her life.
“I remember. What. Do. You. Want?”
Keira set the perfume bottle on the marble vanity. Her fingers trembled, but her voice didnt. Shed learned that much.
“Money.”
Short. Simple. No apologies. No pretence. He hadnt changed.
“Youre joking.”
“Do I sound like Im joking?” His temper flared. “Ive got problems, Keira. Big ones. And you? Looks like lifes a bed of roses. Mansion. Billionaire husband. The papers werent lying, then?”
She stayed silent, staring at her reflectiona woman in a silk robe, hair styled from an expensive salon. Not the broken, sobbing mess hed tossed out with two bags of baby clothes.
“Surely your new sugar daddy wont miss a few quid? Toss some to the man who raised his wifes kids.”
Business went south, see? Happens to the best of us. Invested in crypto, lost it all. Now I owe some very serious people.
She could picture him saying itlounging in his chair, that same arrogant smirk, certain shed crack. That the guilt hed hammered into her for years would win.
“You threw us out in winter, Greg. Remember what Polly said when we slept at the train station?”
“Oh, spare me the sob story. Water under the bridge. Im not asking for a palace. Just £50,000. Pocket change for you. Call it a fee for my silence.”
“Silence? About what?”
“About how you landed this sweet deal. Think your precious Daniel would love to hear a few spicy details from our past?”
The wardrobe door opened. Daniel stepped incalm, assured, in a tailor-made suit. He took one look at her face and frowned silently: *Everything alright?*
Keira stared at him, at that steady gaze, while Gregs venom hissed through the phone. Two worlds. The one shed built, and the one determined to wreck it.
“So, Keira?” Greg pressed. “Helping out your dear ex? If a man crawls back after a year, you know hes desperate.”
She gave Daniel a slow nod. *Ive got this.* And for the first time, her voice didnt waver. It was cold. Sharp.
“Where and when?”
They met in a faceless café in a shopping centre. Loud music, popcorn smells, teenagers laughingthe perfect place where a scream would go unheard.
Old habits. Solve problems where scenes wont be made.
Greg was already there, in a suit pretending to be expensive but screaming cheap polyester. He stirred a juice lazily.
“Youre late,” he said instead of hello, not even looking up. “Rude to keep the father of your children waiting.”
Keira sat opposite him, gripping her handbag like an anchor.
“Im not giving you £50,000, Greg.”
“No?” He finally lifted his gaze, envy swimming in his eyes as they raked over her dress, her ring. “Changed your mind? I could call your Danny right now. Getting his number wont be hard.”
“Ill give you £10,000. And a job. Daniel has connections”
Greg threw his head back laughing. Nearby diners glanced over.
“A *job*? Youre having me on. You think Ill toddle off to interviews like some intern? Im a businessman, Keira. I need capital, not handouts.”
He leaned in, voice dropping to a venomous whisper.
“Playing the saint now? Think I dont know how you bagged him? Painted me the monster, you the victim? Bet hed love to hear how you rang me a week before you met him, begging me back.”
Every word struck like a blade. He knew her deepest fearthat Daniel would see the weak, broken woman shed been.
Wordlessly, she pulled out a chequebook. Still hoping for compromise. Still playing nice.
“£10,000. Thats all. Take it and disappear. Please.”
Greg examined the cheque like a prized artefactthen tore it slowly, savouring her shock.
“Pathetic. £10,000? After the years I gave you? The kids?”
He tossed the shreds onto the table. They fluttered like dead moths.
“£50,000, Keira. Or Ill be your shadow. Calling. Texting. Picking the kids up from school. Telling them about their *real* dad. Youve got a week.”
He tossed crumpled notes for his juice and left without a glance.
Keira sat frozen, watching the torn cheque. The music boomed. People laughed. Inside her, something hardened. Fear turned to ice.
For a week, she barely slept. Jumped at every ring. Then, on day sevenhe struck.
Polly was quiet after art club. At bedtime, Keira spotted an unfamiliar lollipop in her grip.
“Whered you get that, sweetheart?”
Polly whispered, terrified: *”A man gave it to me. Said hes my real daddy. Said hes taking us away from mean Uncle Danny. Mummy, were not leaving, are we?”*
Something inside Keira *clicked*. The fear vanished. Only cold resolve remained.
That night, when Daniel came home, he found a different woman waitingdry-eyed, steady.
“We need to talk.”
She told him everything. No tears. No excuses. The eviction. The stairwell. The years of fear. And todayGreg approaching Polly.
Daniel listened in silence, his face hardening. At the end, he simply asked:
“What do you want to do?”
“I want him gone. Not the way he thinks. No pay-off. I want him to know he made the worst mistake of his life.”
For the first time, she saw more than love in Daniels eyes. Approval.
Ten minutes later, she dialled Gregs number. Her hands didnt shake.
“Fine. £50,000. Tomorrow noon. Ill text the address. Come alone.”
Greg chuckled. *”Theres my clever girl.”*
She hung up. The address wasnt a bank. It was Daniels corporate headquarters.
Greg strutted into the glass skyscraper like a conqueror, chest puffed in his cheap suit. They led him to the 40th floora boardroom with a cityscape view.
Keira waited at the head of the table, poised in navy blue. Daniel beside her. A stone-faced strangerhead of securitynearby.
“Sit, Greg.”
His confidence wavered. Hed expected her alone, scared, cash in hand.
“The hell is this? A tribunal? We had a deal.”
“You made a deal with my family,” Daniel said coolly. “This is different.”
Keira slid forward a thick file.
“£50,000, Greg. You wanted it. But handing it overs too dull. Were investing it in you.”
Greg gaped.
“What the hell is this?”
“Your business,” the security chief said. “Whats left of it. Debts. Pending fraud charges. Very risky assets.”
Documents spilled outloan sharks, incriminating photos. Greg paled.
“We settled your most urgent debts,” Keira said. “Call it a gift. But in return”
Daniel placed a pen and contract on the table.
“you sign this. Full termination of parental rights. And a three-year employment contract.”
Greg barked hysterical laughter.
“Youre mad! Me? Work for you?”
“Not for me,” Daniel corrected. “For one of our subsidiaries. In Aberdeen. Site foreman. Good wage. Working conditions. Youll return in three years. Debt-free. Clean record.”
Greg shot up. “Sod off! Ill ruin you!”
The security chief tapped the file. “After this? Your words worth less than this paper. Sign, or these documents hit the investigators desk today. Your choice.”
Greg scanned their facesKeiras calm
